I use a USB stick to sync songs, but try hooking the iPhone to the USB port in the glove box, then press options on iDrive in the music menu, then try backing up the songs to the iPhone.

I don't think this is going to work. When you import songs onto the iDrive hard drive, it converts them to a "BMW proprietary format". What it does is reverse the sample bit order or something like that.

You can do a regular backup of your songs to a flash drive. There is a program called Br-Converter that only works on Windows. It will convert the files to a standard format - WMA, unfortunately.

I guess it is a lame attempt to avoid having someone sticking a flash drive in your car and pirating your music. BMW clearly assumes that you own, and have possession of the original files, so you would never need to pull them off the iDrive.

I tried asking this question on a different thread, but I haven't gotten any resonses. I am hoping one of you guys can help.

I just got a 2009 E92. Loaded up music from a flash drive. Does anyone know if you can move the files out of a directory? It is very annoying to have a new directory created each time I load music. I just want all the music folders shown when I recall the "Music Collection" function.

I tried asking this question on a different thread, but I haven't gotten any resonses. I am hoping one of you guys can help.

I just got a 2009 E92. Loaded up music from a flash drive. Does anyone know if you can move the files out of a directory? It is very annoying to have a new directory created each time I load music. I just want all the music folders shown when I recall the "Music Collection" function.

Thanks!

From the manual, my understanding and experimentation, the iDrive system creates a new folder each time it imports from a USB drive, containing all the songs on it. To import as individual albums, you would need to copy the album to USB drive, import, and then repeat the process for a different album. AFAIK, there is no way to move the files around once imported.

If you import from a CD, it will "rip" the album and tag it correctly. I gave up with it all, and keep a 30gb ipod plugged into the connector in the console.

Thank you for the response. I am also about fed up with, and about to abandon, the internal HDD. I would like to get the 160GB iPod Classic to handle my music, but don't know if it'll interface with the iDrive screen. Currently, I'm using my 2nd Gen iPod Touch, but it only works via auxilliary. Do you know if the iDrive/iPod Classic interface allows for album art, playlist, and on-screen interaction via USB (and not any propriety BMW connection cables)?

Thank you for the response. I am also about fed up with, and about to abandon, the internal HDD. I would like to get the 160GB iPod Classic to handle my music, but don't know if it'll interface with the iDrive screen. Currently, I'm using my 2nd Gen iPod Touch, but it only works via auxilliary. Do you know if the iDrive/iPod Classic interface allows for album art, playlist, and on-screen interaction via USB (and not any propriety BMW connection cables)?

Thanks again!

I'm pretty sure, that since you have a 2009 like I do, you have the old combox. This does not allow you to interface with "BMW Apps", or get album art, etc. You should also not be able to see or control your iPod with only the white apple 30 pin to USB connector.

Your car, with the iPod interface feature, would have an auxiliary jack and a USB port under the console. It would also have come with the $80 BMW "Y-connector" iPod interface cable, which is mandatory to be able to connect an iPod with the iDrive in order to control it and get track information. The cable has a 30 pin connector on the iPod side, and a USB and analog audio plug, which connect to both ports under the console. My understanding is that it pulls analog audio through the 30 pin connector to be able to play apple formatted and DRMed music files through the head unit (the iPod does the digital to Analog conversion).

I was successful in using this cable to originally connect my iPhone 4, and currently use it with a permanently attached white 30 GB iPod 5th Gen (video), similar to the classic.

The only problem i've run into is that your tags and naming conventions are uber important. I have quite a few "greatest hits", "best of" and "single" folders as album names. It is hard to sort and select the exact album I want to hear. I suppose playlists would help, but I've never really used them, so I don't know how well they work (or don't). I also have about 6000 songs on the iPod, so there is a big chance for duplicate titles.

A friend voiced his concern about using a harddrive based iPod in the car. I have had a Phatbox (Music Keg), which is just a glorified portable hard drive interface, in my Passat for almost 10 years. Haven't had an issue, although it is a little slow to start during very cold weather. However, it is located in the trunk, which gets very little in terms of heat or ventilation. I would imagine that the center console would be a bit more kind to electronics.

That was a lot of useful information; thank you very much. I purchased the car used, and unfortunately, the OEM Y-cable did not come with (and a couple tools from the trunk, which I'm a little peeved over). I doubt the combox is upgradable to a more recent version to permit direct handling of the iPod, right?

Maybe if I get annoyed enough, I'll just spring for the exorbitantly priced OEM cable.

That was a lot of useful information; thank you very much. I purchased the car used, and unfortunately, the OEM Y-cable did not come with (and a couple tools from the trunk, which I'm a little peeved over). I doubt the combox is upgradable to a more recent version to permit direct handling of the iPod, right?

Maybe if I get annoyed enough, I'll just spring for the exorbitantly priced OEM cable.

Re the tools, I think there is only a screw driver and tow attachment (and sunroof wrench, if you have one). BMW stopped supplying the rest of the tools before our model year, so it may not be the case that anything is "missing".

If you bought your car CPO, you could try to beg the y-cable off the dealer, since it should have come with one, and the ipod adapter feature is useless without it.

There are threads about upgrading the combox. I think it gives you the ability to stream from a bluetooth mp3 player, but interferes with iphone connectivity. More here:

Thank you both for the reply. I researched the forums a bit and found a thread to retrofit to the new combox. However, I haven't been able to find out of the retrofit uses OEM hardware, but with aftermarket wiring harnesses, or if it's a completely aftermarket combox. Secondly, how do I get MY2009 upgraded to MY2011.5 after the retrofit?

I don't fully understand why I can't purchase an OEM combox, and then get the wiring harness to mate the hardware.